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The Japanese Canadian National NewspaperTue, 14 Aug 2018 15:12:57 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.11Celebrating 90 years of friendship with sakura treeshttp://nikkeivoice.ca/celebrating-90-years-of-friendship-with-sakura-trees/
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Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti and Consul-General of Japan Takako Ito along with donors and community members take part in a ceremonial sod-turning at Markham Civic Centre on June 23. Photo credit: Consulate General of Japan.

MARKHAM — On a rainy afternoon, perfect weather for planting trees, a ceremony commemorating the planting of 80 sakura trees in the city of Markham was held at the Markham Civic Centre on June 23.

A total of 80 trees were planted to commemorate the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Canada. The trees are meant to symbolize the friendship between the two countries.

“The trees represent the desire of all people involved, that the fruitful friendship between Japan and Canada is always remembered here in Markham, one of the most diverse cities in all of Canada,” said Consul-General of Japan Takako Ito at the ceremony.

The trees were donated by various Japanese donors. This includes the Rotary International District 2750, with Governor Masamori Sawatari in attendance. As well, Mitsubishi Electric Sales Canada Inc, and the Toronto Sakura Project Committee donated trees.

“So many diverse nationalities are living peacefully together in our multicultural society, like the city of Markham, planting sakura trees is the ideal environmental gesture, we must cultivate as a symbol of love and peace instead of planting hate and anger into the people’s minds—it is sad and awful,” said James Matsumoto, who has helped plant 3,000 trees over Ontario with the Japanese government’s sakura project.

Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti and Consul-General of Japan Takako Ito unveil the commemorative sign that will accompany the sakura trees at the Markham Civic Centre. Photo credit: Consulate General of Japan.

Three specific locations in the city were carefully chosen for the trees, said Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti. These locations are: the Markham Civic Centre, where the ceremony took place, Rougeside Promenade, a street in the heart of Markham and the Milne Dam Conservation Park, where the city holds its Canada Day celebrations every year.

“The explosion of pale pink petals, it truly is a sight to behold and we are thrilled that the residents and visitors to Markham and the GTA and beyond can now appreciate the splendor of the Japanese sakura trees right here in Markham,” said Scarpitti.

A closer look at the commemorative signage. Photo credit: Consulate General of Japan.

Markham has taken part in a ‘Trees for Tomorrow,’ project, planting 389,000 trees in the city, more than one tree per every Markham resident, says Scarpitti. The sakura will become a way for Markham citizens to better understand and appreciate Japan and foster friendship between the two, he said. Talks to plant trees in Markham began after Scarpitti led the Markham delegation on a business trip to Japan last year with former Ontario Premiere Kathleen Wynne.

Markham is home to 25 different Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi, Canon, Toshiba and Shiseido. The companies employee over 3,400 people in Markham, said Scarpitti.

“So the next time you come across the sakura trees, whether it’s here or in any other part of the world, seize the day, revel in a sense of wonder and remember life’s beauty, it is fragile,” said Scarpitti.

“[Reflect on] relationships that make us stronger, relationships and friendships like the one between the city of Markham and Japan.”

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This photograph shows Marie Katsuno (right) with her friend, Michiko Saito, in August 1946, aboard the USS General M.C. Meigs, a ship once used to transport troops for the United States during the Second World War and Korean War.

Marie was being ‘repatriated’ to Japan. From the Canadian government’s perspective at the time, Marie was simply going back to her home country of Japan.

In reality, Marie had never been to Japan. She was born at Vancouver General Hospital in 1923, and grew up in East Burnaby. Marie’s mother would frequently take her to the Powell Street neighbourhood. Like many Japanese Canadians at the time, Marie’s father was a fisherman.

Marie and her family eventually moved to West Vancouver in 1934 and lived in a small fishing village with nine other Japanese Canadian families. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, her family was uprooted and sent to the incarceration camp in Tashme.

When the war was coming to an end, the Canadian government gave Japanese Canadians two ostensibly simple choices: resettle east of the Rockies or sign up for ‘repatriation’ and ‘return’ to Japan with financial assistance from the government.

Marie’s life was uprooted once again when her father decided to move the family to Japan. Her father was already in his 70s, and wanted to see his birthplace again. Marie was unwilling to go, but had no other family support in Canada and she could not return to Vancouver due to government restrictions. Left with little choice, Marie followed her parents to Japan aboard the USS General M.C. Meigs in August 1946.

Aerial view of USS General M. C. Meigs (AP-116) underway in Hampton Roads, Virginia, 4 July 1944, soon after completion. Photographed from an aircraft assigned to Naval Air Station, Hampton Roads. Photo credit: US National Archives.

Repatriation means the return to one’s homeland. Marie’s ‘repatriation,’ meant the opposite, leaving her actual homeland and sailing across the Pacific Ocean to a foreign land that she had never seen before.

Life was difficult for Marie and her family when they settled in the small Japanese village her father had originally emigrated from in the Fukui prefecture. Although she and her father worked hard fishing on the waters of the Pacific coast, the lack of adequate and familiar food for her family was a constant problem for Marie.

In a postcard Marie wrote to her friend Yoshimaru Abe in Canada after arriving in Japan in 1946, she laments the strange customs and people. She also writes in her postcard that she is always dreaming of Canada, her friends, and especially the food (including Abe’s cake) because she is sick of having “rice two times a day, getting fat from starchy foods” and eating sugarless meals.

After years of craving more (sugar) to eat, she decided to work for the United States Occupation Forces, where the military provided free food for workers instead of relying on rationed food for civilians. Marie settled in Yokohama, which was still in desolate ruins because of U.S. air raids during the war, to work for the Occupation Forces.

During her few years of employment with the U.S. Occupation Forces, she regained her Canadian citizenship and eventually repatriated—in its truest sense—to her native country, Canada, in 1994.

— Joe Liao

Image Information:

Marie Katsuno (right) with her friend Michiko Saito (left) being ‘repatriated’ aboard the USS General M.C. Meigs to Japan in August 1946

The Trillium Book Award is considered the most prestigious literary award in Ontario. It was established in 1987 by the Ontario government with the goal of recognizing excellence, supporting marketing and fostering increased public awareness of the quality and diversity of Ontario writers. The award was expanded to include a separate award for Francophone authors and their publishers.

With each award given to the winning author is $20,000 and $2,500 is given to their publishers for marketing these titles. A panel of writers and individuals from the literary community judge all submissions and select the winning titles. Past Trillium winners include Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Timothy Findley, and Anne Michaels. Both fiction and non-fiction books are eligible.

In 2003 the Trillium Book Award expanded to include an award for new and emerging poets. Six books were shortlisted for this year’s award.

“Honestly, it was just a huge honour to be on that shortlist with writers I admire so much. I write very slowly and very small (in the sense that my books are intimate and miniature in scope),” Maclear told Nikkei Voice about the prize.

“It makes me happy that the Trillium jury saw something worthy in Birds Art Life. My mother walked around the next day like a proud mama peacock so that was kind of sweet and embarrassing.”

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TORONTO — Author Kim Moritsugu is tucking a seventh book under her belt, after releasing The Showrunner at a book launch at Ben McNally Books on June 7.

The book lifts the curtain on Hollywood television production, giving readers a glimpse at the scandalous drama and action behind the scenes. A suspense fiction, the story follows three ambition women working on one TV show; the two show creators and a young actress looking to revive her stalled career and the lengths they will go to reach their goals.

The rights to Moritsugu’s book have already been swept up by White Pine Pictures, a Canadian independent film company for a scripted TV series.

“I could instantly see this being adapted into a riveting dark TV drama that would take viewers behind the curtain of the industry, while also engaging them with relationship-based storylines of strong leading women; something we’re finally seeing come to the forefront of production,” said Karynn Austin, vice president of scripted development at White Pine Pictures.

Moritsugu sat down with Nikkei Voice at the Brickworks in Toronto to discuss her writing process and how she created her latest book, The Showrunner.

Nikkei Voice: How did you get your start in writing?

Kim Moritsugu: It was a long time ago! I was working in a corporate job for about 15 years and went to school while I was working, but by the time I finished my MBA I realized I no longer wanted to do it—it took me seven years part time.

I was a middle manager. I decided I didn’t want work in business at all. I wanted to write fiction. I started to do it, a little bit on my own, but then my job got re-located to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Because I worked there 15 years, I got a severance of a year and a half so I thought, this is it: I’m going to take this year and a half and write that novel … and that turned into five years. At the time, I had two small kids—my youngest was a year and a half. My husband was doing alright financially, so he said to keep at it, and five years after I quit the job, my first novel was published.

NV: Did your father (Frank Moritsugu) influence your writing career in any way?

KM: Not really. He is a journalist. When I was in my first year of university I wrote for the student newspaper, at the university of Waterloo, but I found I wasn’t interested in non-fiction; it was too much research, too much fact-checking. I wanted to do the more creative stuff. So, certainly there was a writer in the family, but my parents split up when I was 10 and he re-married—so there was always writing there, but I turned away from the journalism approach, and more towards the creative side.

Local actors read excerpts of Kim Moritsugu’s new book, The Showrunner, at the book launch on June 7, at Ben McNally’s Books in downtown Toronto. Photo courtesy: Kim Moritsugu.

NV: How would you describe your books?

KM: The first one was a romantic comedy and the second was a domestic comedy, but lately I’m veering toward crime fiction, and I’m quite intrigued by suspense.

I’ve looked at psychological thrillers—I read a lot of them—but I don’t like the idea of women being brutalized by men, and I don’t want to write about that, but it’s hard to do a psychological thriller without that. So I think suspense is the way I want to go, but I don’t like the page turners—I like a slower build, so that’s what I’m kind of looking at now. I have become more interested in the crime thing lately. This book [The Showrunner], my seventh, is mild suspense, and my next one will be a suspense too. So I am veering in that direction.

NV: Is there a common thread across your seven books?

KM: They are all about women—strong, opinionated women. The books are from a mixture of genres, from literary fiction to commercial fiction. I tend to have a fairly distinctive voice, so I think that means they’re not for everyone; some people don’t like that voice but then some like it a lot. I’m a bit all over the map, so I can’t quite break into that mainstream market, because I’m too quirky. And also that voice may not be conventional enough, although my first book, The Glenwood Treasure was probably the most conventional, but with the rest of them, I tended to veer off in my own direction.

Also, there’s humour in them—The Glenwood Treasure probably had the least humour which made it more conventional.

The cover of Kim Moritsugu’s newest book, The Showrunner.

NV: How do you come up with the plots for your novels?

KM: God knows. I don’t like to write without knowing where I’m going, so I definitely come up with a concept. In some cases, it may take me a year to come up with one and the plot before I start writing. I sit down and figure out who’s my main character, what’s her issue, who are the other characters, what’s going to happen, what’s the main character’s occupation and how that informs how the plot unfolds.

So in the case of The Showrunner, I wanted to write something in that suspense line. I choose the TV milieu because I thought it would give good opportunities for people to attack each other. I mentioned I don’t like to do research, and since I am such an avid—a selective avid—TV watcher, I found myself writing about how that thing works. There’s so much information about TV online. Ten years ago, nobody knew what a showrunner was, now showrunners are famous, in their own right.

All that information was becoming available and people were interested when I went on community forums for TV shows: people really wanted to know what was going on behind the scenes. People talked about what they would do if they were running the show.

NV: How much research do you do?

KM: For this book, I did do quite a bit of location scouting. My husband and I go to California every year for a couple of weeks in the winter, so I made him go with me. I said, “we’re going to go check out if this place would be a good place to kill somebody.” And I did a lot of reading and watching of videos. In the book, there’s a part where they do a Paley panel (Museum of Broadcasting, where media professionals talk with the public), so I checked out that kind of stuff just to see how that is done.

NV: What are some challenges you find in writing?

KM: I guess I find, now that I’ve done so many books, that the first one was easier because I had not written anything before so I could write about whatever I wanted, and now, I don’t want to repeat myself. Sometimes I go through my books and I find I have repeated a phrase or something, so that’s a challenge. And I’ve become more self-critical, since I’ve had people criticize me in the form of reviews. But beyond that, I’ve really slowed down.

When I was first starting out, I could write a 1,000 words in a day, no problem. I could even write 3000 in a day, but now, as we get older everything takes longer. And I definitely prefer editing, or revising, to writing the original thing. Because once you put one sentence down, you’re sealing off possibilities; the next sentence has to follow the one before it, so you know whether you want to go off in this or that direction.

Kim Moritsugu signing copies of The Showrunner at her book launch at Ben McNally Books on June 7.

NV: What are you working on now?

KM: I had a project that I was thinking about and have done a small amount on, but then [The Showrunner] was optioned for a TV series.

I thought it would be one season, whether it was 10 episodes or more, but the woman who optioned said, there could be another season with more, new characters, so I thought I could write a sequel, which was certainly not my intention when I began. So I’ve been thinking more about an extension with two of the main characters, but actually the two wouldn’t be the main characters in the new story, but they would appear, so the universe would continue but the story wouldn’t focus on those two. The TV option is a long shot, but I don’t mind the idea of staying in this milieu.

NV: You are involved with teaching and mentoring writers at the Humber School for Writers. What advice do you have for beginner writers?

KM: One of the first things I say, is read the genre you want to write, so that you’re familiar with what’s going on, and read like a writer.

For instance, I’m trying to do suspense, so I’m trying to read all the current thrillers and see how they do it; what they withhold, what their structures are. Another thing is, take criticism. What I’ve found over the years with students, some people, they’ll take heed to what I say, and others don’t … I have a list of tips I give my students, like don’t use too many adverbs or adjectives at the sentence level and some students ignore it.

Now, I’ve read published work that also ignores this, but people have a tendency to overwrite. They need to cut their sentences and cut their words; just be more economical.

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Canadians get what might be their last look at Ichiro Suzuki during batting practice before a game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners in Toronto on May 9. Photo credit: Jonathan Eto.

TORONTO — Despite the Miami Marlins declining the $2 million club option on Ichiro’s contract last November, this year has been abuzz for Japanese baseball star Ichiro Suzuki.

A new species of wasp was named in honour of Ichiro. Diolcogaster ichiroi was discovered and named by Canadian entomologist (a scientist who studies insects) and Ichiro-fan, Dr. Jose L. Fernandez-Triana. In a recent study published in ZooKeys, a scientific journal, Dr. Fernandez-Triana, who works for the Canadian National Collection of Insects in Ottawa, wrote: “This unique and remarkable species is named to honour the truly unique and remarkable Ichiro Suzuki, my favorite baseball player and one the best ever to play the game.”

At the time the research for this paper was being conducted, Ichiro was still playing for Florida, where Diolcogaster ichiroi is native, explained Dr. Fernandez-Triana.

“Unfortunately, the new owners of the Miami Marlins did not keep Ichiro, an unpopular decision with many Marlins fans. Hopefully soon another Major League team gives the “Universal Hit King” the chance to continue his extraordinary career in baseball,” he wrote.

Perhaps his article helped stimulate some buzz for Ichiro, as there were few teams that showed interest in the veteran player. Ichiro has clearly stated in the past that he wants to play baseball until he is “at least 50,” and fans were starting to worry as spring training was just around the corner that he would not be able to achieve that goal. Finally the Seattle Mariners, the team that first brought the star over from Japan, signed Ichiro to a one year contract.

Opening day in Seattle, fans roared with a standing ovation to welcome back Ichiro as he ran down the red carpet during pre-game introductions. Having last played in a Mariners jersey July 22, 2012, Ichiro got the nod to start in left field and went on to become the 20th outfielder to make the MLB all-time 5000+ career putouts in the 2-1 loss. Early in the season, Ichiro had flashes of his old self with a homerun saving catch in his second game and reaching base four times in another.

But as some of the Mariners’ injured players returned to regular duties, Ichiro faced criticism as his batting average dropped to .205. Ultimately on May 3, the Mariners announced that for the rest of the season, Ichiro would move to the front office as a special assistant to the chairman. Yet Suzuki has not announced his retirement and continues his everyday routines, including batting practice. He dresses in full uniform to welcome players to the bench, only to leave before the game starts, as MLB rules limit the number of players in the dugout during the game.

Ichiro will not play another league game this season, but you wouldn’t be able to tell. In what may be his final trip to Toronto, May 8 to 10, Ichiro’s batting practice was a last glimpse of Ichiro in action for many Canadians. Known as a prolific slap-hitter, getting on base any way possible, Ichiro’s technique and mechanics are perfect, and with perfect contact, his hits still leave the ballpark, often to the second deck in right field at the Rogers Centre. Already this season, Ichiro’s special assistant duties have varied and he has stepped in as Seattle’s interim bench coach for a doubleheader in Detroit, where they split decisions on May 12.

So what’s left for the 44 year old wizard? It’s unsure if we’ll see him playing in North America next year, but there’s a strong likelihood that fans will see him play once again as the Mariner take on the Oakland Athletics to open their 2019 season with a two-game series on March 20 to 21 at the Tokyo Dome. What’s known for sure is that we’ll see him enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame when he finally decides to hang up the cleats.

Until then, let’s hope Canadians get chance to see Ichiro play again.

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New York Yankees rookie catcher, Kyle Higashioka during a game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Yankees at the Rogers Centre on July 8. Photo credit: Jonathan Eto.

TORONTO — New York Yankee rookie catcher, Kyle Higashioka, gave baseball fans another reason to celebrate over Canada Day and July 4th.

Before the fireworks, the yonsei hapa player from Huntington Beach, Calif. played only 14 games for the Yankees last year, and started his career with a disappointing 0-18 at the plate. The 28 year old was drafted in 2008 by the Yankees got his first call up this season on June 25, as starting catcher Gary Sanchez was placed on the disabled list.

Making his first start June 27, and subbing in June 30 due to injury to backup catcher Austin Romine, Kyle’s struggles at the dish continued.

The MLB record for at-bats by a positional player to start a career without a hit is 0-23. So in the fourth inning on Canada Day, Higashioka was facing an MLB record no one wanted to hold as he was 0-22. On the mound for the Boston Red Sox was former Cy Young winner David Price. Down 1-2 in the count, Kyle hit a homer to left field for his first major league hit, just in the nick of time.

In his third consecutive start, Higashioka seems to have kicked his bad luck and launched another homerun to left field for his second major league hit. Then on American Independence Day, he became the ninth player since 1920 and only the second Yankee (Alfonso Soriano 1999-2000) to hit three consecutive home runs to start his MLB career.

As the Bronx Bombers made their flight to Toronto July 6 to 8, Higashioka was on the brink of a different major league record, to tie the record of four consecutive home runs to start his career set by Colorado Rockies’ Trevor Story in 2016.

Higashioka started only one game in Toronto and was able to get a single off the first pitch he saw against Jays reliever Luis Santos in the eighth inning as the Yankees won 8-5 on July 7. His strong performance will make it difficult decision for the Yankees when Sanchez returns from the disabled list.

Higashioka has said he is embracing his ancestry and started to learn Japanese last year from language learning software to help connect with his heritage and communicate with teammate and pitcher Masahiro Tanaka.

Kyle’s father, Ted, spent several years in Japan as a child while his father, Shigeru, was an oil executive.

Shigeru was also a member of the most decorated regiment in the history of American warfare, the Army’s 442nd Infantry which was comprised primarily of Nisei Japanese Americans.

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Floating lanterns will be released in the reflecting pool during the Hiroshima Nagasaki commemoration.

TORONTO — This year’s Hiroshima Nagasaki Commemoration will highlight the catastrophic nuclear famine that would result if only one per cent of the 15,000 nuclear weapons still in existence were detonated in large cities today.

The commemoration will explore the possibilities of nuclear famine if, for example, a nuclear war broke out between India and Pakistan. Immense nuclear firestorms in burning cities would create millions of tonnes of thick, black, radioactive smoke. This smoke would rise above cloud level and quickly surround and engulf the entire Earth.

The smoke would form a stratospheric smoke layer that would block sunlight from reaching the surface of Earth for about ten years. Warming sunlight would be blocked by the smoke layer and cause the Earth to rapidly cool. In a matter of days, ice age weather conditions would descend upon all peoples and nations. Prolonged cold, decreased sunlight and rainfall, and massive increases in harmful UV light would shorten or eliminate growing seasons for a decade or longer. Nuclear famine would result for the 800 million people already suffering from hunger and malnutrition and could cause up to a billion people to die of starvation.

Dr. Helfand and Setsuko Thurlow will be the featured speakers at the Hiroshima Nagasaki Commemoration on Aug. 6. Photo credit: Anton Wagner.

Featured speakers at the Hiroshima Nagasaki Commemoration include Setsuko Thurlow, a member of the HNDC organizing committee, who accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) last December. Also speaking is Dr. Helfand is a member of the ICAN international steering group and co-president of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. He is also co-founder and past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, the group’s US affiliate.

The Aug. 6 commemoration begins at 6:30 and will also feature Japanese drummers, the Pax Christi Chorale, the Raging Grannies and Grammy nominated flutist and composer, Ron Korb, who will lead the audience to a lantern ceremony at the city hall’s reflecting pool. Mayor John Tory’s Toronto Peace Message and peace messages from Hiroshima and Nagasaki will also be presented. Community tables, origami, lantern-making, Shiatsu and face painting for children will start at 4:30. A poster display about Hiroshima and Nagasaki and nuclear weapons will be exhibited inside City Hall from Aug. 6 to 11.

The Hiroshima Nagasaki Day Coalition has been organizing Aug. 6 and 9 commemorations for over two decades and is seeking new volunteers to support its continuing efforts to abolish nuclear weapons.

TORONTO — There were three major moments in Japanese history that changed the trajectory of Japan. When Japan surrendered in 1945, the Meiji Restoration period in 1868 and in 1600, the battle of Sekigahara.

The latter of these moments is what Japanese director Masato Harada decided to focus on in his battle epic, Sekigahara. The battle of Sekigahara was fought between the Army of the East, led by Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Army of the West, led by Ishida Mitsunari. The Army of the West won the battle, which led to the political unification of Japan and the Tokugawa shogunate the next 260 years.

Masato Harada was in Toronto to present Sekigahara at the Toronto Japanese Film Festival. Photo credit: Yosh Inoue.

Director Masato Harada sat down with Nikkei Voice while he was in Toronto to present the Canadian premiere of Sekigahara at the Toronto Japanese Film Festival on June 16.

Drawn to Ishida, Harada decided to focus on his character’s idealism he had established. The losing side of the battle is a perspective and story that is often looked at, explains Harada.

“I feel like Ishida Mitsunari is a totally misunderstood character, like how I am misunderstood by some of the Japanese. We fought the same kind of battle, a mental battle against society, and so I sympathize with his character,” says Harada. “And that’s one of the major aspects for why I wanted to make this movie.”

If Ishida had won the battle and took power, the national characteristics of Japan would be completely different, explains Harada.

The 68 year old director holds a unique position as a director, he has lived and worked extensively in the United States and Europe, as well as Japan. He has had the opportunity to observe his home country from a distance. Much of his work has contained strong statements of social commentary on Japan.

As well, influences from great cinema of both Japan and America can be seen in Harada’s films, including Sekigahara. For example, the opening of the film echoes Francis Ford Coppola’s famous film, The Godfather. Opening with a wedding, each of the major characters are introduced in bits and pieces, who Ishida will meet as the story begins to unfolds. As well, Seven Samurai, from Akira Kurosawa contains some of the best battle sequences in cinematic history, says Harada. He turned to the film for inspiration on costume design and to create believable battle scenes.

Harada has directed 23 films, and describes himself as an old school director. His distinct style is deeply influenced by his mentor, director Howard Hawks (Rio Bravo, Scarface, His Girl Friday). After meeting Hawks in Spain, their friendship continued, and Harada interviewed him for several hours in his home in Palm Springs. Recording the interview, Harada has said he still refers the tape for guidance.

Unlike the book, written by Ryotaro Shiba, which Sekigahara is based off of, Harada wanted to focus on the influences and actions of women during the Sekigahara battle. While researching the battle, Harada discovered that Ishida’s right hand general, Sakon Shima’s wife, Hanano was an accomplished doctor. During the battle, Hanano and her sons worked on the front lines as a hospital doctor, and had to escape the battlefield when the Army of the East lost the battle.

“I wanted to show that discovery of the history from the losing side, and that’s one of the most important elements of this movie,” says Harada. “Just don’t use any clichéd images of women from that era, but somebody new and somebody strong, but somebody real at the same time.”

Harada based other female characters, like ninja Hatsume, off some of the characters in Shiba’s short stories about the 16th and 17th centuries. Stories of characters that are unknown draw Harada in, he explains. They are stories he wants to teach his audiences, to open their minds on stories that they think they already know.

Harada was awarded the Special Director’s Award at the Toronto Japanese Film Festival on June 13 for Sekigahara, and stayed after the film screening to answer audience questions.

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TORONTO — Almost everyone can remember their first crush, whether it blossomed into anything, or became an experience of angst-filled, teenaged-unrequited love. This is the premise of Mayu Matsuoka’s new film, Tremble All You Want (Katte ni furuetero).

At 23, Matsuoka has become one of Japan’s hottest up-and-coming stars, featured in films including powerhouse director Hirokazu Kore-eda‘s critically acclaimed Shoplifters. Now, Matsuoka is moving away from ensemble casts and stepping into the spotlight on her own for her latest film, Tremble All You Want.

Mayu Matsuoka in Chihayafuru – Part Three. Photo courtesy: TJFF

A romantic comedy, the film is directed by Akiko Ooku and based on a novel by Risa Wataya. The story circles around adorkable Yoshika, a 24 year old clerk who keeps her head down and crunches numbers all day. She obsesses over her first love, a crush in high school who she calls “Ichi,” who has just spoken 10 words to her in her life. She also navigates her first real-life boyfriend, an excitable co-worker she calls “Ni.”

Matsuoka radiates in every scene of this film, breathing life into Yoshika, who monologues her feelings to anyone who will listen. As the story continues, Yoshika reveals—through musical number—that she’s not as bubbly and chatty as she pretends to be. She keeps her head down and lives most of her life depressingly and inescapably alone.

Matsuoka speaks to what it means to feel desperately alone, a theme that can speak volumes to anyone who has felt overwhelmed and alone in the monotonous routines of everyday life. The film has resonated with its audiences, seen when it was awarded the Tokyo Gemstone Audience Award at the 30th Tokyo International Film Festival in 2017.

Matsuoka was in Toronto to present the Canadian premiere of the film at the Toronto Japanese Film Festival on June 12. As well she presented the North American premiere of her other film, Chihayafuru Part 3 on June 13. Both days, lineups of excited young fans and interested movie-goers attended the films and participated in audience questions and answers with Matsuoka afterwards.

Matsuoka sat down with Nikkei Voice to answer a few questions about her career and her film, Tremble All You Want with a translator.

Nikkei Voice: Is this your first time in Canada?

Mayu Matsuoka: Yes, there is green everywhere!

NV: Were you surprised to learn there is a festival in Canada all about Japanese cinema?

MM: I have known the existence of this film festival because all my colleagues, the film makers, actors, Mr. Yoshida (director of A Beautiful Star), have attended while ago and also Mr. Saitoh (director of blank 13), is coming next weekend.

NV: Do you think this film can teach Canadian audiences about what is like to be a young, modern Japanese woman?

MM: This portrait, I think, is of a very regular girl in Japanese society. She’s not famous, she’s not particularly very beautiful, she’s basically just like everyone. So for that reason, I think she does portray [a regular girl], but she’s also not the majority of other girls either.

Japanese star Mayu Matsuoka answers questions during her Canadian premiere of Tremble All You Want at the Toronto Japanese Film Festival on June 12. Photo credit: Kelly Fleck.

NV: Your film won the Tokyo Gemstone Audience Award, why do you think this film resonates so well with audiences?

MM: It was our first award that this film received at the Tokyo International Film Festival. So for that reason what I will do from now on as an actress, as a perform, would probably be to reflect back on this film. I was very humbled to receive the award.

NV: This was one of your first starring roles. How did it feel to take on a role like that?

MM: I’m just simply surprised that my first major role in a film like this became really popular, kind of out of proportion. I’m kind of surprised.

NV: You described the character, Yoshika, as a very everyday girl. Do you feel people can relate to that character?

MM: I think Yoshika is, by the look of her, very popular, very pretty. She seems to be very outgoing and loves chatting, but at the same time, she has a bit of a dark side to her as well. She is very pessimistic and not really fully confident of herself. So in Japanese society, maybe all the girls seem very pretty, well dressed, but there is a population of girls who can relate to Yoshika. Maybe not 100 per cent confident, and I think that’s probably why the film became very popular with the general population.

NV: In the film, your character obsesses over her first crush. Do you remember your first crush and what that was like?

MM: Yes, I have had the experience as well. I didn’t have the experience of being in love with somebody for 10 years, like Yoshika. Yoshika has been holding in this feeling for the last 10 years. But I think that is very common for all of us, whether female or male, to watch this film which brings those memories back to mind. I would really appreciate it if that would happen.

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THIS ARTICLE WAS REPRINTED FROM NIKKEI VOICE’S JUNE ISSUE. SUBSCRIBE OR DONATE TODAY TO HELP SUPPORT OUR NEWSPAPER.

Shohei Ohtani’s first hit in Canada: Top of the 9th, with bases loaded and a broken bat single (you can see the shaft snap in this photo). Photo credit: Dr. Jonathan Eto.

TORONTO — With Major League Baseball’s favourite Japanese player, Ichiro Suzuki, in the twilight of his career, a new sun is on the rise.

After being courted by over two dozen MLB teams, two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani from Oshu, Japan, signed with the Los Angeles Angels to a minor league contract Dec. 9, 2017.

The 6’4”, 23-year-old, has become one of the most talked-about players in baseball this year. He has the potential to become the first starting pitcher and regular batter to play in the league in nearly 100 years. The last player to do so was Babe Ruth in 1919, in his last season with the Boston Red Sox.

Ohtani in the Angels dugout on the May 23rd game.

Despite a slow spring season start, Ohtani silenced his critics with his first ten games in the majors. Opening Day, in Oakland, Calif. on March 29, his debut in the league, on the very first pitch he hit a single to right field. Three days later in his first start on the mound, he beat the Oakland Athletics 7-4, earning his first MLB win.

In the first inning of his Los Angeles debut, on April 3, with bases loaded, two out, he worked the count to 1-2 when a wild pitch scored a run and advanced the runners to second and third. Then, the crowd erupted as he hit his first MLB home run and finished the game 3-4 at the plate, with 2 runs scored.

The cameras kept rolling as Ohtani would go on to hit a home run in the next two consecutive games before facing the Oakland A’s again for his second pitching start. Even stronger than the first, Ohtani went 7 innings, retiring the first 19 batters he saw in succession. Finishing with 12 strikeouts, and allowing just one hit and one walk. Combined with his first start, Ohtani retired 27 Oakland batters in a row.

Unfortunately, since then Ohtani has already had a couple minor injuries which have hurt his performance. A blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand caused him to have an early exit on his third start the Boston Red Sox, and his first loss.

April 27 versus the NY Yankees, Ohtani hit a homerun in his first at bat. In his next plate appearance, while trying to leg out another broken bat hit, to avoid a collision with the first baseman, he hit the bag awkwardly and twisted his left ankle (the ankle that he lands on for pitching) leading to his second early exit.

Unlike most pitchers and designated hitters (DH) who are often the slowest baserunners, according to Statcast Sprint Speed Leaderboard, Ohtani’s average speed is 28.1 ft/s. (just under 31 km/h) which is the fastest speed for a DH this season. He is the second fastest on the Angels, trailing only Superstar CF Mike Trout with 29.3 ft/s.

In case that isn’t impressive enough, on April 24, 2018, Ohtani threw two pitches at 101.0 mph which is the fastest by any starting pitcher this season.

With a scene change, Shohei continued his quest for excellence in Canada, facing the Toronto Blue Jays, May 22 to 24.

With only one walk in four plate appearances in his first game, all eyes were on Ohtani during game two. At the top of the ninth inning, with bases loaded, Ohtani had a broken bat hitting a single into centrefield that scored two runs to tie the game at 3-3. Then, he was given the green light to steal his first base in the majors which eventually led to him scoring the game winning run.

Ohtani stealing second base, his first steal in his MLB career. Photo credit: Dr. Jonathan Eto.

After his heroics, Nikkei Voice asked Ohtani, “What does it mean to you for your first hit in Canada to be such an important one?”

Through his translator, “Since this is my first time in Canada, I’m not sure if it’s going to matter at all, but we won the game today so I’ll remember this tonight.”

Since his debut at the end of March, Ohtani was awarded the American League Player of the Week for April 8, 2018 and American League Rookie of the Month for April. Looks like the curtain is a long ways from closing for this young phenomenon.

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Watch below to see Shohei Otani hit a three-run homerun in his first time at bat in Anaheim, Calif.

THIS ARTICLE WAS REPRINTED FROM NIKKEI VOICE’S JUNE ISSUE. SUBSCRIBE OR DONATE TODAY TO HELP SUPPORT OUR NEWSPAPER.